


Bite of Eternity

by Raithwin



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Becoming Prey, Bite Euphoria, Dark Guardians, M/M, Predator/Prey, Slow Build, vampire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26020990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raithwin/pseuds/Raithwin
Summary: Ink: Guardian of the Multiverse, Protector of the Creators AUs, Vampire.  He has come to think of the AUs as his flock. They sustain him, provide monsters to consume, and are a partial source of his paints. Error: Glitch of the Multiverse and Destroyer of AUs. At first, Ink wants nothing more than to be rid of Error. Then things change. Ink gets a taste of Error and realizes he's found a new favorite prey.
Relationships: Error/Ink
Comments: 36
Kudos: 164





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by a delightful work by Doodis on twitter. You can see it here: https://twitter.com/Doodis_2014/status/1265087020055101447 
> 
> Enjoy!

Blank. White. Still. Silent.

These had been the first things he had known when he awoke. The blankness of self, no emotions, no feelings. The stark, uniform white of the space around him. Unchanged no matter the direction. The stillness of this white space. Besides himself, nothing moved, nothing changed. Besides himself, nothing could be heard. Something about it gave the faintest impression of being wrong, but he couldn’t be bothered to pay it any mind.

He had no notion how long he was in that unchanging space before something finally happened. He had been standing, staring at the bones of his hand and the color shift they did when something suddenly appeared. Something large and not white or black or grey just was suddenly there in his hands. It had weight. It had texture. It had…color!

He’d stared at it. Color! It was… It was… Brown! A rich brown with a red tone to it. A thinner golden band towards the smaller end, thicker one towards the other holding on a thick collection of bristles. It was a brush! Broomy. His first friend.

And then more color came. In torrents and splashes, filling the blank space with puddles and waterfalls. In turn, each new one filled him with the impression of a different feeling. A different emotion. He could feel! Happiness, sadness, anger, affection, fear, and more. It was amazing! Exciting! So much so that he’d thrown up blackness. Odd tasting blackness.

And suddenly, he’d known his name. He was Ink! And the colors flowing into his space came from elsewhere. Somewhere out and beyond this space. He could never quite say how he knew at first. It was just a notion he couldn’t shake. So he didn’t question it. It was the same with how he’d realized he could Create.

He’d been playing with Broomy, spinning it and dipping it in the various colors, when he got the notion to paint something. A large bucket. Under one of the long falls of color. He started painting without dipping into a color and black ink flowed from Broomy. The bucket came into existence halfway up the fall of green. Ink had stared at it. And then he’d made more, just because. It was amazing! Creating things, though a little tiring, was fun! Interesting!

He made himself a set of vials and a bandolier to hold them. He filled the vials with the colors. Now he could keep them with him. He could even get a very faint sense of emotion simply from having the colors so close. And when he sipped them he could feel even more. That’s when more knowledge made itself known. He could leave this place. He suddenly knew how. But not where it would take him.

Then the space started to change again. All around the buckets Ink had made, large papers began to appear, each slowly filling with lines and color until they were a fully painted image. Ink had darted up to look at them in amazement. These were places! Other worlds! Other universes! Places brought to life by the imagination of another Creator. He just somehow knew!

He studied these paintings, watched them, and learned so much. This was the multiverse! There was one painting, hung on the first bucket he’d made, that showed the first world of it. The Original World. The First Universe. All the other paintings were Alternate Universes. Worlds that were a variant of the original. And a few that were variants of an AU. But not all of them were finished. Some were still being Created.

He’d first realized it when a new page came into existence on the third bucket tier of the yellow falls. He gone to study it and found that it was only partially filled in. The line work just stopped about half way down and there was no color. That had made Ink strangely uncomfortable, looking at the unfinished line work. He’d darted away from it, dipping fingers in the white and deep blue buckets to lick at. That’s was the closest he could think of the sense of being uncomfortable.

More pages appeared and Ink didn’t approach them right away. But by the time the fourth one appeared, his interest was too much. One of the new ones had some color even! It was hanging from the purple bucket, second tier. He’d gone to that one. It was filling in as he watched! Slowly, not like the first seven, but still filling. Then it stopped and Ink found himself shouting encouragements at it. They couldn’t leave it partway done! A little more appeared but it stopped again. That was when he’d felt the call.

He could not explain it other than a sense of someone needing help. He dove into the painting and a bubbling blackness appeared just before he hit. It was like diving into one of the rivers of color but without the overwhelming sense of emotion. Pleasantly cool. And then he was somewhere new. Somewhere that looked exactly like the painting in progress. He’d left his space! He’d entered an AU! It was so exciting he’d thrown up twice.

Answering the call had turned out to be easier than expected. Ink could sense what the Creator intended in a way. Or at least he could see what might make sense. So he painted it for them. And as he did, the world built up around him. Faster and brighter, more and more as the Creator joined in once more as if struck by inspiration. In no time, there was a bright bustling world all around Ink. Monsters going about their day as if they’d always been. It was fascinating to see! To Ink, these beings had only just been born. To them, they had lived their entire lives up to this moment.

Ink had spent a day and some in this new AU. Exploring, seeing all the different places, experiencing extreme temperature for the first time, and talking to people. Talking! It was great! Though many gave him strange looks. Some asked about his marks too. They seemed to accept when he said he’d always had them, but it left Ink wondering if they made him strange. He’d still been wondering that when the Guards started chasing him. Ink had no idea what started it but it became a delightful chase around the AU’s Underground until Ink decided it was time to leave. He opened up a portal and dove through back to his space.

It was just as he’d left it. Ink flew back to check that first painting. It had more line work and now that he was concentrating, he could feel a call. He dove into this new world. It was harder to get things going here. He followed what he could sense, but for a time it seemed like the Creator just didn’t notice. Ink almost licked his white for worry, but then, that sense of a Creator at work returned. Ink cheered. He knew what he should do!

Ink spent his time helping build up struggling worlds and exploring the existing ones. He tried to stay more out of range in the older ones, wanting more to watch the stories play out. He learned about the resets, the stories, the important beings to them, everything he could. It was all fascinating and interesting, but soon a strange new urge was distracting him again. One he hadn’t noticed before. He needed something. And for some strange reason, the need was stronger when he’d notice a bare bit of flesh or bone. Especially if it was a being’s neck.

It was such an odd thing that he really didn’t understand just what he was supposed to do. His teeth ached! Well, his fangs did. It made him want to chew on something. But chewing didn’t help the need. Just soothed the strange ache some. It left his fingers nicked and scratched up, but they healed quickly. It didn’t even matter which AU he was in! It happened in all of them and the strange need just kept getting stronger. It left him struggling to keep up his mask of expression even when he drank a full vial of yellow, which almost hurt more than the gnawing need. He just didn’t understand what was happening.

And that was when he’d seen the bunny monster. Ink could swear he could hear the beat of its soul! Or was it its heart? Did monsters have both? Or just the fleshy ones? It didn’t matter! There was a beat and a rushing sound that drew him in. He followed the bunny with his gaze until it turned a corner and started out of town. As if in a trance, Ink followed. The ache was turning to real pain and there was a sense of growing cold emptiness inside that demanded to be filled. Somehow, this bunny would help.

Out past the bridge, in the growing forest of trees, Ink found himself moving on some new instinct, stalking the bunny. When he stepped on a branch he tensed and slipped to cover just as the bunny turned to look. Next thing he knew, he was up in the trees, leaping lightly from branch to branch before settling in one further along the bunny’s path. Then he watched, fingertips digging into the wood of the branch under him as the cold in him grew. The bunny drew closer and closer before finally passing under the tree he was perched in.

Without a thought, he pounced, attempting to pin the bunny to the snowy ground. It fought him, bucking and twisting and demanding to know what Ink was doing. Ink had hissed, annoyed. His fangs hurt. They felt longer and the need to bite was almost overwhelming. He’d grabbed the ears and slammed the bunny’s head against the ground, stunning it. That was all he’d needed. He wrenched the bunny’s head aside to better expose the neck and bit down. Blood flooded his mouth, washing over his eager tongue, deliciously infused with heavy magic and the bunny’s very essence. It left Ink shuttering, gasping around each mouthful as he greedily drank it down. It tasted so good! Satisfied the cold need and the ache. Filled him with warmth and strength. Bolstered his magic more than any food he’d tried ever had.

That was when he realized. This rabbit _was_ food! Its blood and magic became his, giving him new strength that curled through his very marrow. And its essence did even more! He would taste it in the last mouthfuls, these almost pure essence. Emotions! Fear and confusion from the bunny, but from himself there was relief, excitement, curiosity, joy and more. They felt different from his paints! Felt like a part of himself. As if, for a moment, he had found something he was missing. A replacement for the soul he lacked.

The bunny finally dusted and Ink sat back, skull tipped back to stare at the tangle of branches overhead. Blood trailed from the corners of his mouth and colors strobed briefly thought his eyes. For a moment, he was full of euphoria. He felt full and strong and warm and could feel! How did any monster eat anything else? Then he blinked and the moment passed. Ink laughed. Bright and pleased. He felt amazing! Invigorated! Like he could help Create several AUs without a break.

After that, Ink had returned to his space. It hadn’t taken him long to realize the bust of emotions faded as the aching void returned. He continued to help build up new worlds, watching the various monsters with curiosity. How would the spider taste in this AU? Or that rabbit? Could he eat the flame elemental who was such a staple part of many AUs? How about the goat monster of the ruins? Would the same monster taste different in different AUs?

He would find answers all of these and more as the multiverse grew and expanded. With each monster taken, with each new meal, he grew stronger. With each new AU, each new Creator, Ink understood a little more. The AUs sustained him. They were his source of food just as the Creators and everything in the multiverse was the source of the colors in his space. He needed to guard them, protect them and nourish new ones. They were his flock, his herd, and he was their Guardian.


	2. Hungry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our story truly begins and Ink is hungry. So, of course, that is when he is interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the amazing and exciting comments on the prologue! I hope everyone continues to enjoy this story! It may not update as fast as some of my other stories but I am very excited to write it. <3

There were a lot of things Ink had learned over the years. At least, that was the rough equivalent of time he could guess when his space seemed to not really have time. Though he had finally come up with a name for the space. This was his Doodle Sphere. His home base when he wasn’t roaming through AUs. That’s where he was currently, floating around glancing at various world portraits.

There were so many more portraits now and more popped up all the time. His multiverse was growing. His flocks was expanding. More and more Creators came with new ideas, new stories, and new monsters. All of it added color and interest to Ink’s life. Kept him on his toes learning new things. Some of them he forgot but he figured he’d probably relearn it eventually. There was just so much to know!

How to hunt for example! Not that hunting had been hard at the beginning but it did have certain challenges. He’d tried to stick to minor characters at first. As curious as he was about some of the major characters it would have caused too much change in the story to take them. And even trying to keep to minor characters he’d had a few slips. Luckily the changes had been negligible those few times. Maybe just sped up things that were already in motion.

There had been one particular incident in a young AU with no human that had been really annoying. He’d found what should have been a very minor character who’d suspiciously followed him into a shadowed alley. He’d barely pounced them and taken his first few swallows when someone discovered them. That person had fled and raised the alarm leaving Ink to do his best to fix the monster that would have been his meal and then get himself out of the AU. He didn’t try going back for a long time. All and all very frustrating.

Ironically, it had been not long after that when the AU that taught him the most about himself since becoming the Protector of the Multiverse had appeared. The AU where he’d learned he wasn’t just a skeleton, but a skeleton vampire. Even before he’d know what it was about, the AU had been fascinating to explore. Dark with lots of fear and agitation in the populous. Tall tales about dangerous creatures whispered from every being. He’d been having so much fun looking around and stalking for a bite that he didn’t notice at first that he himself was being stalked. He had just pinned his target when his stalker spoke up.

_“I am surprised you find enough to eat hunting like that.”_

Ink had tensed, glaring over his shoulder to find a tall, elegant monster a few paces away. It was a Gaster. Ink’s target tried to straggle out of Ink’s iron grip, looking to the Gaster for help. Ink had been trying to figure out how to get out of this situation when the Gaster’s eyes glowed brighter and Ink felt his meal quiet.

 _“I think you will find you don’t need to hold them now,”_ the Gaster had said, tone somewhere between amusement and smugness.

True to his word, when Ink tried loosening his grip his meal simply remained slightly slumped against the wall Ink had pinned them to. Ink had gasped in astonished delight and looked to the Gaster in wonder.

 _“How did you do that?”_ he’d asked, _“They normally only settle down after I bite.”_

The Gaster had given him a strange and oddly pitying look.

_“Bite euphoria, useful but passive. What I have done is subverted their will. Hypnosis, if you prefer. This is one of the most basic vampire abilities.”_

_“Vampire?”_ Ink had responded, confused.

The Gaster closed his eyes with a brief sigh and a sad shake of his head before looking back to Ink.

_“You do not even know what you are. Finish your meal and then come with me. I cannot ignore untrained young ones.”_

And that was how Ink had ended up basically adopted by the Gaster in one of the first vampire AUs in the multiverse. Those couple well fed months spent learning with Gaster had been really socket opening. Gaster was a great teacher. He would have Ink practice a skill on his two thralls, that world’s Sans and Papyrus, before taking Ink out hunting to practice on less susceptible targets. It had actually been a little sad to leave that AU, but he knew he couldn’t keep ignoring the rest of the multiverse no matter how well fed he felt. He’d learned well but he could sense a major story point coming that he could not stick around for. So he thanked Gaster one last time and left.

He never saw that Gaster again. Despite repeated occasional checks on that AU, that Gaster never returned. It was one of the unfortunate truths of living outside the stories. Sometimes even characters you loved fade into the background and you never knew what became of them. You were just left to wonder. It was one the very things that caused new versions of stories to arise. Ink was tempted to glide over to that AUs portrait now but a sudden presence in his Doodle Sphere interrupted Ink’s meandering thoughts and memories.

“Ink?” A voice called out. “Where are you?”

It was Dream. The bright and interesting skeleton he’d help escape from DreamTale. It had been such a strange thing to be called to be a part of a world’s story! The world was nothing like what he’d remembered. Dark and desolate with strange shadowy beings scrounging and scuffling where that little village used to stand. The tree he remembered seeing in the distance that night long ago was gone. The only thing dominating the landscape was a castle. Nightmare’s castle.

Ink floated closer to where he’d heard Dream’s voice from. The Guardian of Positivity was glancing around, presumably looking for Ink, but his eye lights kept straying in the direction of DreamTale’s portrait. That portrait had gone from a simple painting of the tree and its Guardians to something like a fragmented stained glass window. Now it was full of different important details of how the world had changed such as the fall of Negativity and the divide between the twin Guardians. Ink found it fascinating to study but Dream would get strange and silent if allowed to stare at it too long. Then it would be difficult to get him to focus on anything else for a while and Ink found it boring. So, best not to let Dream start. He called down to Dream.

“Up here!”

Dream looked up as Ink dropped down to where he was hovering near the base of the yellow falls. That was usually where Dream liked to appear. Probably he could feel some sort of comforting positivity coming off the liquid creativity. It would makes sense. Yellow often seemed to come up to convey happiness or excitement and sometimes hope. All things Dream was supposed to help bring to the multiverse. Ink could even feel it when near Dream, especially when he was getting hungry like now.

Dream smelled so interesting and the positivity in his aura could have been addicting if Ink’s emotions did not already have two sources. That did not stop Ink’s eye lights from jumping through more yellow shapes when he was near Dream. Nor did it stop him speculating about what Dream might taste like. He’d never actually tried it though. Been tempted but it would have ruined the part of the story Dream played and it wasn’t possible to reset Dream’s world.

He’d also never told Dream the little detail about his being a vampire. That was something else he’d learned from that Gaster. Never reveal your vampiric nature unless you have something clear to gain from it. It could be hard to resist though. Not because he longed to tell someone or even because Dream was his friend. Well, that was a small part of it, but the truth was Ink thought it would be funny to see Dream’s reaction. But a moment of amusement wasn’t a good reason to let the vampire cat out of the bag.

“Hey, Dreamy,” Ink greeted, dropping to the ground.

Dream smiled back at him, though it seemed wearied as it often did. As though Dream needed another twenty years of sleep now that he was out of the stone.

“Hello, Ink. Everything alright in the multiverse?” Dream asked.

“Yeah, nothing really doing at the moment,” Ink said with a shrug.

Dream had been coming to Ink more and more, wanting to find ways that he could help in the Multiverse. Ink had explained that he was the Protector of the Multiverse. That it was up to him to be sure the worlds got a chance for their stories to play out. It had confused and scared Dream at first when Ink had been explaining about the multiverse, but then Dream had surprised him by saying it wasn’t the existence of the Multiverse that scared him, it was the darkness. Negativity was seeping through out. Dream was still trying to orient himself and understand just what had happened to his home. To his brother. Which for now meant he needed to stay away.

Ink had offered to let Dream stay in the Doodle Sphere. More because it seemed like something he was supposed to do than anything else. Dream had declined however. He said he felt oddly unsettled and anxious in the Doodle Sphere. Indeed, Ink noticed he started to look rather ill if he had to stay for very long. Maybe the emotions were too much here. Ink wasn’t sure.

What was sure wat that Dream preferred being out in the Multiverse. But he never stayed in on place for long. He flitted from world to world, always stopping somewhere he could try and bolster the positivity. It was a way to keep Nightmare from pinning down Dream’s location and hopefully balancing the scales of power a little. At least that was how Ink understood it. He was honestly just waiting to see how this story played out. He figured Dream would have to return to his story one way or another to find its end.

Speaking of ends, he should probably find something to distract Dream with. He liked the Guardian and all but at the moment he was pretty hungry and Dream smelled more and more tempting the longer they stood there. Dream seemed to be getting more antsy and fidgety anyways. Ink grinned, rocking up onto his toes as his yellow star and blue oval eye lights danced.

“Have you seen the new AUs?” he asked, voice excited and mischievous.

Dream blinked a time or two before smiling tentatively.

“No, I do not believe I had,” he confessed.

Ink beamed, “Come on! You’ll like these ones!”

Ink snagged Dream’s hand and shot into the air. Dream didn’t even make more than a little squeak of surprise this time. Ink had done this enough times that Dream must be getting used to it. Dream could fly in the Doodle Sphere but not outside it like Ink could do. Yet another thing that was part of Ink’s vampiric nature, but he’d spun a pretty good yarn for Dream about it just being one of his native abilities and Dream hadn’t seemed to mind at all. There were a few Papyri after all who could seemingly fly at will.

He pulled Dream around to the orange falls, ducking and weaving around to come up to a newer bucked that had been added recently. There were a few young AUs here, all of them generally pretty positive and some pretty quirky.

“Here! So these four are new!”

Ink pointed to the four portraits facing them on the side of the bucket.

“There’s UnderTowel which is pretty great for relaxing. Lots of hot springs and the like. The one next to it is a baby Blaster AU but, like, a happy one! The Gaster was trying to figure out how he and Grillby could have kids and the Sans and Papyrus came out as accidental Blasters.”

Ink paused to glance at Dream whose expression softened. He smiled softly, though there was still something quietly melancholy about him.

“That is so sweet,” Dream murmured, “And the other two?”

Ink gestured to the bottom row.

“Another coffee shop AU and a zookeeper AU. That one has little lamias and things!”

Dream was certainly smiling brighter now. Possibly encouraged by the creation of more positively based AUs. Ink hadn’t mentioned the other new AU on this bucket. He hadn’t decided where HeartsTale fell on the positive-negative spectrum yet, but the story of saving corrupted hearts or souls from the dark may hit a little closer to home then Dream was ready for. Besides, Ink sensed a lot of potential in that one for multiple endings and timelines! Very interesting.

Still, he was hoping to convince Dream to go exploring on his own. That would get him out of the way before Ink was too tempted by hunger and curiosity. Then Ink could prowl. Maybe one of his favorite haunts? There were a few AUs that utilized frequent resets and reloads that were great for trying basically any of the characters. The human would be resetting anyways so Ink could hunt at his leisure and then hypnotize the human into resetting once he left with no one the wiser. Even if he ate the world’s Sans or Papyrus, so long as he timed it right, he didn’t have to worry about changing the story. Just reset and it was wiped away. No one would remember what had happened. Just that there was another reset but one that had been oddly peaceful. Even in the worlds where the skeletons remembered every reset. Compulsion was great.

Ink put on a thoughtful expression, studying Dream. When Dream noticed he gave Ink a confused smile, one brow ridge raised.

“I-ink?” he asked, “Whatever is that look for?”

Ink hummed.

“Just thinking that you look like you could use a moment of relaxation. I think you’re worrying too much lately, Dreamy. Check out UnderTowel. Take a breather. Relax.”

Dream straightened at that, giving Ink a suspicious look. Ink blinked innocently.

“What?”

“Are you…trying to get rid of me, Ink?”

Ink gasped, maybe a little too dramatically.

“Me? No! I’m serious, just looking out for my pal.”

Ink’s eye lights flicked to a flower and a pale purple square as he beamed at Dream who pressed his teeth together as he tried to keep up the suspicious face. He didn’t last long. Dream’s suspicious expression broke after only a few seconds of silent staring and he started to laugh. Ink joined him. It took them a few moments to recover and when they did, Dream’s smile was wide and his eye lights bright with amusement.

“Well, I believe we are both right, so I think I will take your suggestion,” Dream said, still chuckling. “Won’t you come with me?”

Ink shook his head.

“Nah, that’s okay. You have fun and we’ll catch up later.”

Dream chuckled again but he nodded and dove into the AU. As soon as the portal closed, Ink breathed a sigh of relief. He was seriously hungry! He wasn’t sure if Dream’s being there had made it worse or just more obvious. The answer didn’t matter though. The important part was: Ink needed to feed. So, of course, that’s when trouble had to start. Before Ink had even darted back over to where one of his favorite haunts was a familiar sense of wrongness prickled along his ribs. It sank into his sternum and made the cold void ache.

Ink growled, pulling out his red paint and taking a swig. Then he zipped around until he found a small portrait in a simple frame that was starting to flicker with glitches. Ink’s eye lights went red.

“Error,” he hissed.

This was the worst possible timing. He was starving! Why did Error decide to act up now! Fuck, maybe he’d be able to grab a bite before jumping into things, but suffice to say he was _really_ annoyed. Ink reached behind him to grab Broomy as he dove towards the painting. Bubbling blackness spread, enveloping him. Error was going to regret it this time.


End file.
